Tag Archives: Splash Sundays

The Playlist

New Wet Leg and Everything Else You Heard at The Mermaid for Splash on April 20, 2025

Mermaid skeleton at The Mermaid bar in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
Greetings from The Mermaid (Pic: Liz O.)

One of the first things I learned as a baby DJ was that genres aren’t all that useful. On a very basic level, they can refer to stylistic conventions (dub) or specific movements (punk) or both (hip-hop), but then the terms get overused (post-punk) and are totally watered down (psychedelic) until they become a meme (goth) and, ultimately, meaningless (indie). 

Genres define music for marketing or search engine purposes, but they don’t mean much for human ears. Whether or not songs fit together has less to do with metadata and more to do with qualities that are objective, subjective and pretty hard to describe. That’s all just a long way of saying that I really like when there’s no genre tagged to a gig, which is the case for Splash at The Mermaid, where I played last night. Here’s the set list, which includes new music from Wet Leg, Marie Davidson, Model/Actriz and clipping., classics from Max Romeo (RIP), The Smiths and The Delfonics, a holiday tune from I-F and more. 

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Music, The Playlist

New FKA Twigs and More Music You Heard at The Mermaid on Sunday, January 26

FKA Twigs Eusexua album cover

FKA Twigs dropped a new album, Eusexua, on Friday. I haven’t had a chance to listen to the whole thing yet, but, I really like the song “Drums of Death,” so I tried it out to open last night’s set at The Mermaid and you’re probably going to be hearing it more in my sets. Splash! Sundays is genre-free, so the set ranges from ‘60s rock and soul to new darkwave and indie.

I woke up Sunday morning with “Silver Rings” from Matt Berry’s new album, Heard Noises, stuck in my head, so that made it into last night’s set, sandwiched in between Shocking Blue and Los Bravos. Other new-ish songs in the set include “No Longer Mine,” from South Bay soul group Thee Heart Tones, and Male Tears’ latest synthpop jam, “Little Doll.” Keep scrolling for the rest of the set list. 

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Happening in L.A.

Happening in L.A.: January 23 – January 29, 2025

Splash at The Mermaid on January 26, 2025 with DJ Liz O.

This Sunday, January 26, I’ll be DJing at The Mermaid for Splash! This is an open format night, so anything goes as far as the music is concerned. Music starts at 8 p.m. and goes until 1 a.m. There’s no cover and it’s 21+. You’ll find the Mermaid at 428 E. 2nd Street in Little Tokyo. There is street and lot parking in the neighborhood and The Mermaid is just a couple blocks away from Metro’s A/E Line station. Hope to see you there!

As for the rest of the weekend, and early next week, check out the list below to see what’s happening in L.A. While Jamie XX’s dates at the Shrine are sold out, there are some other fantastic shows happening around town, from Tropa Magica at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach to Nuovo Testamento at Saturday night’s Abortion Access Benefit at the Lodge Room and Travis on Tuesday at The Wiltern. 

From the looks of it, the David Lynch film screenings— like Fire Walk With Me at Brain Dead on Thursday night and  Blue Velvet on Sunday at the Aero— are sold out. Some other worthwhile screenings include Oldboy at Gardena Cinema on Friday and Viridiana at Vidiots on Saturday.If you’re in/around Orange County, Tank Girl (!!!) Is playing at The Frida on Monday night. 

Keep reading for details on these and more events happening in L.A. between Thursday, January 23 and Wednesday, January 29. 

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The Playlist

A Christmas Banger from Confidence Man and More of What You Heard at Splash! Sundays

"Santa's Comin' Down the Chimney" Confidence Man single art

Confidence Man dropped a Christmas banger last week, called “Santa’s Comin Down the Chimney.” It has a late-‘90s electro-techno thing going, like Dopplereffekt or Miss Kittin and the Hacker, which is really weird for a Christmas song and something that I, a person who is extremely picky about holiday tunes, can appreciate. If you were at The Mermaid for Splash! Sundays last night, you might have heard it sandwiched in between Del the Funky Homosapien and Crystal Castles. 

Splash is an open format night, so, really, anything goes as far as the music is concerned. Since this was the Sunday before Christmas, and The Mermaid has its “Siren Who Stole Xmas” pop-up going on right now, I brought a few of my favorite holiday jams, like Charo’s disco-fied “(Mamacita) ¿Donde Esta Santa Claus?” and a really specific remix of “El Burrito de Belen” that took one holiday season of heavy Googling to find. 

Still, I could have kicked myself for forgetting to download Los Bitchos’ holiday EP before the gig, but all their songs are good for a party, so “Talkie Talkie, Charlie Charlie,” from the band’s latest album, Talkie Talkie, made it into the set. Male Tears’ new one, “Little Doll,” which landed in Friday night’s set at Catch One, made a reappearance. A handful of 2024 faves— Fontaines D.C., Pet Shop Boys and La Femme included— turned up in Sunday night’s set too. It’s a real mixed bag, but I swear, if you were there and heard the set, which lasted from 8 p.m. until about 10:30 or so, it totally made sense. Keep scrollin’ to see what else was heard at Splash! Sundays on December 22. Next gig is New Year’s Eve at Underground. See you there.  

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